The winds of change blowing among the women's basketball program at Arkansas Tech University has caused Sarah Hart to make a change herself.

Hart, a member of the Golden Suns for the past three seasonss, has elected to transfer to Ouachita Baptist University. This came, according to Hart, after new Tech head coach Todd Schaeffer elected not to renew her scholarship for her senior season.

"It was because of the coaching change," she said Tuesday afternoon. "The style of play at Ouachita would be a better fit for me than the new style of play that Coach Schaeffer was implementing. Ouachita is also closer to home, and it was the place where I wanted to play if I hadn't come to Arkansas Tech.

"The decision was a really hard one. I've been here for three years in the program and really was dedicated to the school. It took a lot of prayer to make this decision, and I think not getting my scholarship renewed closed one door for me and allowed another door to open at Ouachita."

Hart, a 5-foot-10 guard/forward, signed with Tech out of Cutter Morning Star near Hot Springs. She played in all 33 games for the Suns during her freshman season and 5.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game on a team that won the Gulf South Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA South Region final.

She started in 26 of the 27 games she played a sophomore and became Tech's second-leading scorer, averaging 13.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per outing. She remained Tech's second-leading scorer throughout last season behind Alisa Wright, but she only started in six of the Suns' 29 games. That caused her scoring average dropped 8.4 points per game and her minutes played went from 31.5 minutes as a sophomore to only 17.3 minutes per game last season.

Even though her scholarship wasn't renewed, Hart still had to be given her release by Tech in order to become immediately eligible at Ouachita. That was granted, so Hart can complete her collegiate career next season.

"Sarah felt like this was a move that she needed to make, and I wish her the best," Schaeffer said. "She did what she felt she needed to do, and she put three years of hard work into the program at Tech. There was no indication of any hard feelings by Sarah, and I wish her well at Ouachita."